Leading Co-Design in Complex Systems

Harness systems-aware co-design to create lasting social impact

📅 Date: Thursdays starting 29 January 2026.
⌛ Format & Duration: 4 x 2-hour sessions, once a week.
💻 Delivery Mode: Online
📈 Co-Design Maturity Model Level: Apply

📜 About this training

Want to effectively integrate design, dialogue and co-creation in project planning, commissioning and management?

Leading Co-Design in Complex Systems is a short course for purpose-driven professionals who want to co-create better outcomes with their colleagues, clients and communities.

This training program presents a Practice Framework for systems-aware co-design. This ethical and evidence-informed approach covers the key domains of systems change, co-design and social innovation: place, people, process, practice and principles.

This much loved course has been appreciated by public servants, researchers, designers and innovators working in a variety of organisations around the world, including Canada, Mexico, USA, Qatar, Singapore, UK, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

The course models how to effectively engage partners, staff and community members–and provides opportunities to connect with people doing inspiring work.

Why do this course?

Learn a practical framework for authentic co-design that you can immediately apply to your projects

Gain exclusive access to an extensive set of resources to share with your team
Experience the perfect balance of theory and hands-on practice
Receive personalised guidance on a proven framework, including through a one-on-one coaching session with Dr Emma Blomkamp
Connect with a diverse network of public and community sector professionals
Learn in a supportive environment where you can openly share challenges and workshop solutions
Walk away with concrete strategies to create lasting social impact with your communities.

How is it delivered?

This course consists of four online training sessions (with up to 22 participants), delivered once a week for a month.

It involves hands-on exercises and discussion, with individual and small group activities, as well as presentations and Q&A.

In addition to the practice framework and case studies, participants also gain access to downloadable materials and tools that you can share with your organisation/network.

Who is leading this?

This program is delivered by Dr Emma Blomkamp, who brings extensive experience in systems-aware co-design and capability building, creating safe and engaging spaces for professional development.

Is this course for me?

✅ It is for you if you:

are a manager or leader in a public, health, education or community organisation.
work in any role or context where you’re addressing complex issues and want to better engage others in your work.
are keen to blend systems thinking and co-design together in practice.
are able to attend all four online training sessions—the course builds progressively and relies on social learning and group discussion.
can allow an additional 15-30 minutes per week to engage in preparation and application activities, or more if you’d like to dive deeper into the resources we provide.

❌ It is not for you if you:

are seeking basic introductory design thinking tools—this is a more advanced systems-focused approach.
are focused purely on commercial outcomes—this is specifically designed for public and community sector challenges.
are looking for a quick, one-size-fits-all technical solution—this course deals with complex social systems and requires deep engagement.
seek a purely theoretical academic course—this is practice-oriented and assumes active participation.
expect to learn everything you need to know about co-design or systems change from this course alone.

✅ Investment & payment options

Early-bird registration: $925 AUD incl. GST if you pay in full before 15 December 2025.

Standard registration: $1050 incl. GST.

Your place is confirmed on receipt of full payment.

Includes:

All materials including digital resources.
Preparation and follow-up activities via email.
Certificate of completion.

Optional add-on:

Individual follow-up coaching session with Emma to discuss how to implement what you have learned into your work:

1 x 50 minute one-on-one coaching session $280 AUD incl. GST.

Keen to learn in person?
Registrations are now open for our in person training, taking place in Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday 3 December: 9.45am-4.15pm AEST (Melbourne) in Melbourne.
Click here to learn more.

Payment Options:

Payment
Register directly via Humanitix to pay via credit card. International participants can contact the team to request an invoice free of GST if based outside of Australia. Learn more about our payment options.

Scholarships
We offer two scholarship places for First Nations practitioners for each of our courses, and a discount for participants with an income under $70,000 AUD per year. Please see our scholarships page for more information and to apply.

Access
When you register, we will ask if you have any access needs or learning preferences. You can view a summary of how we learn, what platforms we use and what accessible features we provide by default here.

We highly recommend registering early to avoid missing out.
To provide a great learning experience, participant numbers are capped at 22 for these online sessions.

Registrations close on 26 January 2026 or when we reach capacity.

💬 Previous participants have said…

This course has not only sharpened my tools but reminded me that while co-design isn’t rocket science, it demands a thoughtful, measured approach that genuinely understands and respects the diverse needs of the people we’re designing with.
I appreciated the unexpected outcome of being in a ‘room’ with so many like-minded, passionate and brilliant humans all working to create a better world! It filled me with hope.
- Ness Wiebford, Project Lead - Youth in Emergencies, Red Cross
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is doing or is thinking of doing co-design. Extremely informative but pragmatic and practical as well.
- Anna Macklin, General Manager, Design and Impact, Australian Community Support Organisation
It was a very interactive, engaging course that I would recommend. Not only did it provide a model and information about co-design but the model itself was helpful for project planning more broadly.
- Ellen Horspool, Community Engagment Coordinator Suicide Prevention, Coordinare
This course provided me with new frameworks and tools that will enhance my practice, and doing the course gave me opportunities each week to reflect on my practice and explore where my strengths and weaknesses lie, which in turn provides starting points for enhancing my practice.
- Moragh Mackay, Managing Director, Mycelia Renewables
If you are wanting to deepen your understanding of what authentic co-design looks like and a framework to support it within your organisation/community, do this course. Emma is so insightful and giving with her knowledge and helps build the foundational knowledge you need to go further. It is also a great way to connect with other people working in this way in other industries and share ideas, successes and challenges in a supportive and safe environment.
- Francine Sculli. Wellbeing, Inclusion, Community & Engagement Leader. Sunshine Heights Primary School
I would definitely recommend the course. It provides a profound learning experience that delves into case studies that really help illustrate how and where to leverage impact…. I loved that it was very systematic but provided flexibility to make it fit each co-design context.
- Kataya Barrett, Community Partnerships Knowledge and Engagement Facilitator, Jagun Alliance Aboriginal Corporation
You'll get to explore and apply a great framework for thinking about co-design in complex systems. The course combines theory and practical elements well and draws on the collective experience and wisdom of participants. Emma is a warm, intelligent and engaging facilitator. I'm already using leanings from the course and recommend it to others who are working in this space.
- Sofiah Mackay. Social Impact Consultant. Australia
Co-design for complex systems is a deep dive into all the principles, components and elements to make co-design real in your work. Emma’s method is empowering as it lays out the foundations, but also allows the flexibility of translating the principles to make them more relevant and meaningful.
- Kate Chua. Capability Development Advisor. New Zealand
I would recommend this course to people who want to expand their practice of co-design - the Systemic Design Practice Wheel offers a useful planner, integrity checker, and evaluation frame.
- Emma Constantine. Head of Innovation & New Business. Australia
I'm so grateful for Emma and this course to offer a meaningful way forward of co-designing projects in complex structures. I benefitted from the structured process and exploring a range of evidence-based techniques so that I could tailor the information to my unique work. Highly recommend!
- Kayla Robertson, Lived Experience Community Support, Wellways
The course struck the perfect balance of being simple yet clear, theoretical yet practical. If you’re interested in walking through various aspects of co-design with the chance to learn from others and try applying a practical framework to your own projects, this training is perfect! Excellent format, Emma’s facilitation and useful resources make the overall experience excellent.
- Tiffany Williams. PhD researcher. Aotearoa (New Zealand)
The codesign for complex systems course is an incredibly valuable course for practitioners working across agencies, government, not for profit or corporate organizations. Its versatility lies in the fact that it does not focus on specific tools or techniques but rather on principles. The focus on a participatory approach along with tangible examples with hope to apply the principles makes this course an essential one for practitioners. The entire program was flawless.
- Gowri Penkar, Service Design Lead. Australia.
There is so much gold in this course and it is very thoughtfully designed to encourage reflection and learning. It takes concepts and creates opportunities to apply them so it's not just decontextualised abstract learning. I'm really glad I did this course.
- Kate Ravenscroft, 100 Homes Joint Project Manager. Australia.
Dr Emma Blomkamp's co-design in complex systems course has been extremely rewarding. What I have gained in this short four week course has been extremely important for a project that I am working on with an amazing team, but also rewarding for my self confidence.
The focus on developing practical solutions to issues in a way that is made easier to understand without getting stuck on how complex the issue is, has opened a new way for me to solve problems. This course has taught me that co-design is a great technique to look for ways to build backwards from the end goal, and important to stay open minded. Hence a system that works WITH everyone involved.
This course has given me incredible empowerment to be able to communicate as myself. There is no wrong answer and everyone was so willing to learn.
- Diana Connell. Lived Experience Consultant. Australia
For me, this learning experience was the equivalent of being hosted in a home for thinking well together. Of course, you don't get to know the whole house - its rooms, backyard and neighbourhood - in one shot but you are hosted very well and you are given very helpful substance and connection through conversations with wonderful people. And you are invited to come back to to learn more. This isn't a store that sells you stuff that ends up as clutter later on. It's a community that's smart and deeply human that wants to support you in your effort to help others with your best self.
- Pierre Lecours. Canada